Jan 5 2014
Random Picture of the Week #9 – The Road to Jonesville, Texas
This week’s random picture was taken on a trip out to see family that I haven’t seen in a few years. Although this was a short trip and I didn’t have much time for a site seeing, I did choose to go through Sulfur Springs, Texas. Then cut south to HWY 20 via some back country roads and a stop off for dinner at my favorite catfish house off Caddo Lake.
Jonesville, Texas
After eating dinner, I headed south east towards HWY 20. As I was coming to the last few miles on those back roads, I came across the small and almost abandoned town of Jonesville, Texas. It was so small it looked abandoned, I thought the place was a ghost town. I had to turn around and take a closer look. That’s when I realized the town was just a small town that was at some point a lot larger during its history.
From Wikipedia…
“Jonesville, Texas is a rural unincorporated community in eastern Harrison County, Texas, United States. The community is located just west of Waskom, or about 20 miles east of the county seat, Marshall.”
When I passed through the town the first time, it was to dark to really stop and take a look around. So on my next trip I was able to spend a few minutes looking around. Pretty much every building is abandoned and locked up. Most were abandoned warehouses. There are a few historical signs that I never got the chance to look at. Those buildings that are abandoned are well maintained and do not look like they are danger of collapsing.
The only original building still operational is the General Store. From the different articles about Jonesville and the general store, its like a time capsule. It looks a lot like what an old general store might would looked like with a little museum and antique store mixed in.
At some point, I plan on driving by and visiting with the owner and see if I can tour some of the old buildings, That way I can write a proper write up for Jonesville, Texas. Even if I do not get to that town in the near future, stayed tuned for historical write up with more images on the personal blog.
The Image
For this image, this is actually a view that I received as I came into town from I-20. The other direction didn’t have the look I was looking for.
When I left Dallas, it was overcast and the rain started chasing me about Canton, Texas. Luckily, I stayed ahead of the weather for most of the trip and even had some time to take a look at most of the buildings. Because of the cloud cover and low light conditions, it gives the town kind of a creepy feeling. But trust me, it just a quiet small town.
First off, this isn’t a dead road, at times it can be busy and most people are just passing by so everyone is dong 60+ miles an hour through the town. For the shot, I went to the middle of the road framed my shot, looked both ways and took the shot from about two feet off the ground.
I took this shot with my Sony Nex-3N with the pancake kit lens, then processed it with Adobe Lightroom and post processed the image with Topaz Labs Clarity to add more texture, remove shadows, boost brightness and contrast. I finished processing the image with some vignetting.
James
Latest posts by James (see all)
- Random Picture of the Week #84: Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge - May 6, 2016
- Random Picture of the Week #83: Lucky’s Rod & Kustom Chevrolet 210 Kustom Shop Car – Invasion Car Show 2014 - April 5, 2016
- Random Picture of the Week #82: Vintage Big Red Cooler on a VW Bug Spotted at the Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show - March 18, 2016
